While we were eating lunch at The Rat Inn a man walked into the bar (this is not the beginning of a joke). Could he grab a snack, he asked, “Pork pie and pickled onion, something like that?” Alas no, no pork pie and pickled onion to be had. “I used to come here with my mum as a kid, haven’t been for over 30 years,” he explained, crestfallen.

A former drovers’ inn, The Rat has the feel of a place where pork pie and pickled onions should be on the menu. The interior is all dark beams, flagstone floors, pine tables and classic pub knick-knacks: shelves lined with tankards and chamber pots hanging from the ceiling. But for all its olde-worlde trappings, it is, in fact, a thoroughly modern beast, a gastropub from nose to tail.

I’d brought my wife, two children and parents-in-law. The ethos of the kitchen quickly became apparent in the starters: good ingredients, combined cleverly with minimal faffing about by the chef. Father-in-law went for pork and black-pudding terrine with pickles (gherkins, not onions) – £6.50. The meaty slab, with, running through its centre, two fingers of black pudding, tasted as luscious as it looked and the pudding added a salty punch. “Not livery at all, that’s my sort of pâté,” was his verdict.

Wife and mother-in-law had beetroot and goat’s-cheese salad (£6.50), the pick of the starters. The beetroot, which came two ways (roasted and earthy; and pickled in velvety strips), made a vibrant contrast with the blobs of tender goat’s cheese. My Serrano ham with bruschetta, tomato and olives (£6.95) sounded the only dud note. The ham was fine, but could have come from a packet; the tomatoes and olives looked pretty chopped into tiny cubes, but lacked piquancy; the bruschetta was crying out in its best Italian for a good scrubbing with a garlic clove.

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For my main course I had peppered local steak, roasted tomato, watercress and chips (£13.95). One of the basic tests of a chef is, of course, whether he or she can cook a steak to a T and my rump (so to speak) didn’t disappoint. The creamy mustard sauce brought a sweet and savoury bite. Herb-roasted chicken breast, peperonata, feta and olives (£13.95) was a good choice for summer. The chicken had a lovely sagey crust, and the peperonata and olives lent a Mediterranean sparkle.

Slow-roast belly of pork with pancetta, peas, sage and onions (£13.95) was exactly what it should be: “Unctuous, crisp on top, delicious,” said mother-in-law. The peas were served with the pancetta in an oniony gravy – mother-in-law thought the pancetta unnecessary; I (quietly, of course) couldn’t have disagreed more. I would have eaten the peas and pancetta for lunch on their own. Fresh-dressed crab with lemon mayonnaise (£12.95) offered another example of minimum chefiness. The crab, dressed in Whitby, was crabby, the lemon lemony and the mayonnaise… you get the point. Main courses are available in child servings. The children had a lovely pasta pesto dish (£5.50), with fresh pesto, tomatoes and olives, but, heathens that they are, they’d have preferred pesto from a supermarket jar.

Puddings are of the homely variety. We shared two. Chocolate and Newcastle Ale cake (£5.50) was moist and light with a dark, grown-up chocolate sauce. Sticky toffee pudding was light, too, the cream and toffee sauce good enough to bottle and sell as an energy drink.

There’s a place for a pork pie and pickled onion, but The Rat is unquestionably no longer the pub in which to seek them out.

Standing where two drovers’ roads meet, in beautiful countryside, the worn and welcoming Stagg excels at the classics. Fillet of beef, teamed with caramelised shallots and a red-wine sauce (£24.90), is a perpetual favourite, while the bread and butter pudding (£7) shouldn’t be missed

Kirkstile Inn Loweswater, Cumbria (01900 85219)

Nestled between Crummock Water and Loweswater, with the Mellbreak fells looming beyond the garden, this 16th-century coaching-inn beckons travellers in with its bright yellow doors. Try the smoked trout with lemon and caper dressing (£6.50) before the tatie pot (Lakeland lamb stew, £8.95)